Edge AI Workload Framework

Dr. Ronjon Nag

Chairman

Dr. Ronjon Nag is an inventor, entrepreneur and a Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Interdisciplinary Fellow. He is founder of R42 Institute which invents, invests and informs. Ronjon has deployed artificial intelligence systems for mobile devices over three decades, working on neural networks at Cambridge, where he received a PhD in engineering; at Stanford, where he was a Harkness Fellow; and at MIT, where he received an MS. He received the IET Mountbatten Medal at the Royal Institution for his contributions to the modern mobile phone industry. Companies he has co-founded or advised have been sold to Motorola, BlackBerry, where he held Vice-President positions, and Apple.

Michel Gannage

Director

Michel Gannage is a senior technology executive and entrepreneur with deep experience in the semiconductor, mobile, IoT, and communications software industries. As a co-founder of Ecrio, he has been involved with the company since its inception and has served as CEO since 2011. Under his leadership, Ecrio has evolved into a pioneering Edge AI company, delivering advanced platforms that enable secure, real-time communication supporting human to machine interactions and AI inferencing at the edge.

Michel is responsible for driving Ecrio’s strategic direction, expanding its product portfolio, and overseeing global operations and customer engagements. Earlier in his tenure, he led international business development, OEM/ODM relationships, strategic partnerships, and played a key role in product planning and sales strategy.

Prior to Ecrio, Michel co-founded Nexcom (acquired by ISSI), where he served as VP of Engineering and Operations. Before that, he held engineering and management roles at Catalyst, Exel, and Intel, contributing notably to the deployment of the first Ethernet chipset. Michel holds a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from École Centrale de Paris and an MS in EECS from Princeton University and is the inventor on nine patents.

Ben duPont

Director

As Managing Partner of Chartline Capital, Ben leads the firm’s fundraising, origination, and portfolio support by connecting companies to additional strategic partners, customers, and co-investors. Ben serves as a director of GigSky, Ecrio, Vorbeck, MSCI (NYSE:MSCI), Longwood Gardens, Zip Code Wilmington, and the Tower Hill School. Ben co-founded yet2 in 1999 and was instrumental to its management buyout; he continues to serve on the board. He also founded yet2Ventures (predecessor to Chartline) in 2010. Previously, Ben worked at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) in multiple businesses including medical products, fibers, specialty chemicals, and engineering. Ben has a 1986 BSME from Tufts University. He is a licensed pilot, a ham radio operator, and an avid sailor. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware.

Dr. Krishnakumar Narayanan

Director

Dr. Krishnakumar Narayanan serves as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering at Ecrio, where he leads the innovation, design, and delivery of Edge-AI and advanced communications software solutions. Under his leadership, Ecrio has introduced its flagship Edge AI Communication Platform, built on a seamless integration of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) and next-generation critical communications across device, edge, and cloud environments for mission-critical sectors such as manufacturing, defense, oil & gas, and healthcare.

With over 25 years of expertise in software architecture and systems engineering, Dr. Narayanan has built and guided globally distributed teams to deliver robust, scalable, and production-grade solutions that anticipate the evolving needs of a connected world. Before joining Ecrio, he held engineering roles at Silicon Graphics (SGI), Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and Wipro Limited, contributing to advanced graphics pipelines and foundational system software for early workstation platforms.

Dr. Narayanan earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Louisiana State University and a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is the inventor of five U.S. patents in communications and application management and has published research in image processing and pattern recognition. Passionate about education, he actively promotes project-based learning and internship programs in academic institutions.

Dr. Vikram Karmarkar

Director

Dr. Karmarkar is a seasoned senior executive at Ecrio, responsible for product management and marketing covering Ecrio’s product-line at the forefront of the Edge AI powered Intelligent Edge, enabling real-time service delivery across 5G and Industrial IoT environments. As part of the founding executive team at Ecrio, he maintains deep relationships with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and their Solution Integrators to foster commercial engagements.

Vikram’s career has included Lucent, Bell Labs, and AT&T, directing telecom initiatives such as Internet Directory and Multi-Gigabit Core IP Switch for QoS-differentiated services on telecommunication networks. His responsibilities spanned directing of the Bell Labs Mobility Center of Excellence team in Milan for the first launch of WCDMA across Italy.

Vikram began his professional journey at HCL in India, where he served as a founding member of the R&D team. He is a Life Member of IEEE and Advisor on Emerging Technology, having served on MOSAIC, the Expert Group at KeyBank (formerly Pacific Crest Securities).  He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa and a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras.

Edgar Masri

Director

Edgar is currently CEO of Liqid, Inc, a leader in the design and development of composable GPU and memory solutions. Prior to this, Edgar was Chief Executive Officer of two public companies: The Accton Group (2019-2023), a global leader in the design and manufacturing of networking products for hyperscalers, service providers, and enterprises; and 3Com Corporation (2006-2008), a leading global data networking company, bringing the company to record revenue and gross margins before it was acquired by HPE. From 2009 to 2016, Edgar was President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualtre, Inc., a US-based start-up acquired by Panasonic Corporation in December 2016. From 2000 to 2006, Edgar was a general partner at Matrix Partners, a leading US venture capital firm.

Edgar holds a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from Ecole Centrale de Paris, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master of Business Administration with distinction (Arjay Miller Scholar) from Stanford University.

Other roles

Non-Executive Board Member at Spirent Communications plc (SPT.L); Chairman of the Board of Kollective Technology, Inc